Demonstrating its rich British history and quality Swiss
craftsmanship, Arnold & Son unveils the beautiful Eight-Day
Royal Navy. The watch is a testament to Arnold & Son's
tradition of building marine chronometers. With a stunning new
eight-day power reserve movement, it is part of the sophisticated
Royal Collection that took its inspiration from the timepieces
commissioned by King George III.
Back in the 18th century, Arnold & Son's marine chronometers
delivered the robustness, reliability and down-to-the-second
precision needed by marine navigators to determine longitude on the
high seas. The Eight-Day Royal Navy combines these historic
features with a high-performance movement and two of the hallmarks
of the antic Arnold & Son chronometers: the power reserve
display at 12 o'clock and the "large" small seconds at 6. Inspired
by the company's historic chronometers, the watchmakers and
designers at Arnold & Son set out to create a new in-house
movement featuring an eight-day power reserve together with a
digital date display. This top-flight movement features an
unusually open design and meticulous finishing. It delivers further
proof of the brand's creative flair and is the 18th movement to be
developed and designed in the company's own workshops in just five
years. The ability to create an unending series of new, customized
in-house movements enables Arnold & Son to make the perfectly
designed, uncompromising timepieces for which it has made its
name.
Arnold & Son's history is closely related to that of the
Royal Navy. John Arnold and his son played an influential role in
the directions taken by English watchmaking. They dedicated
themselves exclusively to the quest for absolute precision and a
solution to the problem of determining longitude accurately and
reliably on the high seas. So successful were they, and of such
high quality their products, that within the space of a few years
they had established themselves as suppliers of choice to the Royal
Navy and to some of the most distinguished mariners and explorers
of their day.
During this era, timepieces played a crucial role as aids to
navigation and were effectively both technical and scientific
instruments. John Arnold and his son decided to make them as rugged
and reliable as possible, and in sufficient quantities to equip the
Navy's extensive fleet. Ultimately, they were to prove pivotal to
the nation's marine dominance and helped ensure that Britannia
really did rule the waves.
Given the dominance of Swiss watchmaking in modern times, it is
difficult to imagine an age when another horological culture and
tradition held sway in Europe. The late 18th century, however, was
an age when English watchmaking reigned supreme. The country's
watchmakers developed an aesthetic entirely of their own, dictated
partly by contemporary taste but also by their desire to roll back
the boundaries of a field that combined art, tradition and
technology like no other.
To perpetuate the company's heritage, Arnold & Son felt
duty-bound to develop a new movement that would be both technically
and aesthetically worthy of the House's historic timepieces. As
with every new calibre, Arnold & Son's R&D team started
with a blank sheet of paper, and set out to design a movement
which, together with the case and dial, would constitute a
harmonious whole. Among the more important specifications were a
long power reserve, integrated power reserve and date displays, and
a slim case. Ultimately, then, the positioning of every element had
to be carefully though out so as to achieve the optimum arrangement
for the displays on the dial.
Thus was born the A&S1016 calibre. Equipped with a highly
efficient twin barrel, the A&S1016 calibre features an
eight-day power reserve and has a fully integrated power reserve
display and date function. Despite all these features, the movement
is only 4.7 mm thick. To further underscore this technical
excellence and in typical Arnold & Son tradition, the 242-part,
33-jewel A&S1016 calibre is meticulously finished: the entire
palladium-treated nickel-silver movement features hand finishing
indicative of the finest haute horlogerie timepieces, including
skeletonized and chamfered bridges with polished edges, Côtes de
Genève rayonnantes and fine circular graining, circular-grained
wheels, and blued screws with polished and chamfered edges. The
main jewels are set in solid 18-carat gold chatons.
The Eight-Day Royal Navy watch measures 43 mm in diameter, and
its classically elegant stainless-steel case just 10.7 mm in
height. Viewed from the side, the housing is stepped and tapers
from top to bottom, the widest section accommodating the
extra-large glass with the lower part narrowing to fit snugly on
the wrist. As an indication of the attention to detail, the
satin-finished inserts in the horns can be dismantled during
servicing and re-satinized if necessary. The timepiece naturally
features an anti-reflective sapphire crystal and case back to view
the intricate details.
The watch is available with a choice of three guilloché dials in
different colours: silver grey, black anthracite or the shade of
royal blue typical of the brand. Further examples of the attention
to detail are the colour of the date disc and the exquisite
hand-aged calfskin strap, both of which match the colour of the
dial. Overall, the Eight-Day Royal Navy is a beguiling work of
technical mastery and fine art.
